Widford Church and Swinbrook

Visit an isolated medieval church in a meadow and explore Swinbrook village in detail.

Technical sheet

18136987
A Swinbrook and Widford walk posted on 31/12/21 by Walks from the Door. Last update : 30/06/23
  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 3.90 km
  • ◔
    Calculated time: 1h 15 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Easy

  • ⚐
    Return to departure point: Yes
  • ↗
    Vertical gain: + 42 m
  • ↘
    Vertical drop: - 42 m

  • ▲
    Highest point: 143 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 99 m

Description

(S/E) From the front door of The Swan Inn, turn left. Walk up the road into Swinbrook village, keeping left at a junction by a fine stone barn.
Keep left at the village green, and turn left by the postbox.

(1) Pass below the church, then join a walled path to the left of the last house that leads to a gate into open fields. Cross two fields and pass to the right of a walled cottage as you approach Widford Church. Go through a gate to the right of a cattle grid and leave the track to the right to visit the church.

(2) Retrace your steps through the gate by the cattle grid, then turn left to a field gate into the dry valley of Dean Bottom. Walk up the valley for 600 yards, to a stile into a narrow lane.
Turn right along the lane for 300 yards before turning left along a hedged green lane that descends to a gate.

(3) Turn right down another dry valley. Towards the bottom, keep left of the marshy area and pass to the left of a spring into trees.

Ignore an overgrown stile on the right, instead climbing slightly to exit the trees, before turning right to descend to a stile at the corner of a stone wall. Follow the path across boggy ground to the right of a cottage, crossing a plank bridge before bearing right to meet the road.

(4) Turn right and walk down the road into Swinbrook, ignoring a turning on the right by the Old Forge. Turn left onto a back lane, passing a small ford and passing The Bell House on your left, before turning right to the village green. Retrace your steps to The Swan Inn. (S/E)

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 101 m - The Swan Inn
  2. 1 : km 0.39 - alt. 103 m - Church
  3. 2 : km 0.96 - alt. 100 m - Dean Bottom
  4. 3 : km 2.4 - alt. 129 m - Spring - Plank bridge
  5. 4 : km 2.89 - alt. 114 m - Swinbrook
  6. S/E : km 3.9 - alt. 101 m - The Swan Inn

Useful Information

Several stiles; paths may be muddy after rain.

Pdf Link : http://walksfromthedoor.co.uk/i/walks/Ox...

The swan Inn
Swinbrook, near Burford,
Oxon, OX18 4DY
Tel 01993 823339
Website www.theswanswinbrook.co.uk
Email info@theswanswinbrook.co.uk

Always stay careful and alert while following a route. Visorando and the author of this walk cannot be held responsible in the event of an accident during this route.

During the walk or to do/see around

The Kings Head, Bledington
This sister inn, in a picturesque village-green setting in another stunning Cotswold village. Described by the Sunday Times as “The classic English country pub that one always hopes to find but seldom does.”
Satnav: OX7 6XQ (11 miles)

Burford
Picturesque Oxfordshire town with its famous High Street, lined with historic buildings, sloping down to the church and river. Museums, antique shops and galleries, tea-rooms, pubs and a magnificent Cotswold church. Satnav (car park): OX18 4DN (2 miles)

Cotswold Wildlife Park
One of the UK’s largest zoological collections, featuring birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians. Star exhibits include Asiatic Lions, Oryx and White Rhino, in gardens and parkland surrounding a Victorian mansion.
Satnav: S33 8WS (5 miles)

Cogges Museum, Witney
Farming and rural life museum near Witney, housed in a 13th-century manor house set among 17th-century farm buildings. Cooking and craft demonstrations, farm animals, café and farm shop.
Satnav: OX28 3LA (7 miles)

Bourton-on-the-Water
Popular Cotswold “honeypot” on the River Windrush, with multiple tourist attractions including Birdland zoological gardens, the Cotswold Motor Museum and a 1930s-era Model Village, a replica of the larger village.
Satnav (car park): GL54 2BN (12 miles)

Blenheim Palace
One of England’s largest country houses, the seat of the Dukes of Marlborough and birth- place of Winston Churchill, set in grand parkland with an ornamental lake. Palace and gardens, Churchill exhibition, model railway and more. Satnav: OX20 1PP (17 miles)

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